Wigvision Bop Contest 15
The Wigvision Bop Contest 15 '''was the 15th edition of the iconic Wigvision Bop Contest. It was hosted in Juba, South Sudan following the country's victory in edition 14 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania with the song "Star Flag I Love You, My Country I Love You", performed by Akon Makeer. The contest was held in the Juba Stadium in Juba (duh) and consisted of one performance show and one voting show, the first one taking place on 19 November 2018 and the latter on 22 November 2018. As the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 that was going to take place the week after featured exactly 20 participants, just like WBC, the Wigvision Reference Group decided to let only JESC countries compete. Each country was randomly allocated to one Head of Delegation except for France, which was not drawn into the final lineup and represented by the South Sudanese entry instead. The Wigvision Bopcasting Union (WBU) reported that the contest had an estimated worldwide audience of around 126 viewers - exceeding the previous record by 16.67% at the time. Australia won the contest with the song "Wigs", performed by Delta Goodrem & Isaiah Firebrace feat. Jessica Mauboy & Lucky Luuk. The common framework from Down Under served upside down wigsnatching vibes with their song about flying artificial hair replacements. Nomen est omen: True to its name, the song collected 76 points from its competitors, left them bald and wigless and won the contest with a margin of six points separating them from the Georgian bees. The betting odds on Bopschecker.com predicted this edition's top 2 correctly as they already considered Australia and Georgia to be the clear main favourites relatively far ahead of the other acts. Hosting Bids Three cities reportedly submitted hosting bids to the South Sudanese host broadcaster SSTV: Juba, Malakal and Wau. The hosting committee quickly made a decision. While Malakal was way too close to the border between South Sudan and the evil North of the nation formerly held together by force, the city of Wau neither had a suitable venue to offer nor was the name deemed appropriate for a partly promotional event to boost tourism in South Sudan. Instead, according to SSTV officials, hosting the contest in a city called Wau would ridicule the young country and bury its highly positive reputation as the dream holiday destination of many. '''Update: The decision of SSTV together with the tourism organisation "Why Doesn't Anyone Visit South Sudan" to let Juba host the edition proved to be correct: Tourist rates in South Sudan rose by 100% as 2 people travelled to the country within the month after the contest. Results Special Award In edition 15, the award given out was called "Eleni The Generous Award". It was awarded to the participant who gave out the most points to their competitors. Intro Transcript News Presenter: Starting on the program to bring you our focussed report and today we're heading to South Sudan. After five years of conflict that's displaced millions of people there, there's now hope a new era is in sight. A new era of bops and wigs, introduced by their Wigvision Bop Contest victory, that is now reaching its peak with the contest being hosted in South Sudan's capital city of Juba. Running Woman: EEEEEHAWWAHEEE EHHAAEEEHEEEHEEEE EEEEH Walking Man: Why are you running?! WHY are you running?! Akon Makeer: I cannot believe my eyes! I cannot believe my eyes! I cannot believe my eyes when I see there's Wigvision Bop Contest in South Sudan! Oh, star flag, I love you, I love you! Oh, my country, I love you, I love you! South Sudan is my people. I love you! Oh, my people, I love you! I love you! Oh, I love you!